Hello Roverers!

Wanted to share my experience doing the Transmission service yesterday.

I try to tackle as many things I can on my 2002 Disco SII myself, and after reading many posts about it, it was a service that sure seemed an easy thing to do; so if you haven't done it yet, jump in! it'll boost your confidence and will feel the immediate difference, hopefully for good!

What I bought:

1. Pro-King Automatic Transmission Filter Kit (gasket, filter & O-rings) for less than $16 at AAP (FK-279);
2. 2 gallons Valvoline MaxLife High Mileage DEX/MERC Automatic Transmission Fluid for less than $38 at Walmart;
3. Pennzoil Siphon Pump for less than $4 at Walmart (not the right tool for the job though, it slowed the whole process down and had to make a quick run to AAP for something more appropriate; but will keep it, it might work for other home uses); and
4. Performance Tools Suction Gun for less than $12 at AAP (W54220).

Tools & Others I used:

1. 6 mm & 8 mm Allen/HEX wrenches, for drain & fill plugs, respectively;
2. #25 Torx head for pick-up tube screws;
3. 10 mm socket + swivel adapter socket + extension + ratchet; and
4. Plastic drain pan, shop towels/rags and disposable gloves will all come handy.

Considering you already knew what you were doing -either by having done this service in the past or having read enough info about it, and had your own "car-lift" at home, or even two pairs of "car-stands", this should be a 2-hour or less service to do.

But in my case, a "first-timer" doing this service, weighing 260 lbs approx, with a 44 size waist, and no "car-lift" or "stands" to raise it and keep it leveled to slide beneath, it made it quite difficult for a man of my dimensions to do the filling job, carefully enough to not get burned by the exhaust pipe; but it took me nearly 12 hrs, considering also that the "siphon pump" I first used made part of the job very slow, enough that I had to pause to go get a "suction gun" at the nearest AAP; after that it was much faster, but again had the "oversize inconvenience"; add to it the many recesses I took for this or that! ;-]#

Having said all that, even though my body aches today from sliding, bending, kneeling, etc... the service is a fairly easy thing to do yourself.

It only requires you to loosen the drain plug with a 6 mm HEX wrench and let it all drain out; then onto carefully removing the SIX bolts that hold the pan in place (I've read that these bolts sometime lock in place, and many people had trouble getting them out, so some penetrating spray is recommended, but in my case it was one of the easiest bolts I've removed from my truck -I was lucky, although two of them required to use the swivel adapter, and this tool tends to make things a bit difficult at times, more so in the physical position I had to put myself in); after the bolts are out, the pan just comes right out, along with a bit of fluid dripping, so wear some eye protection and keep your mouth shut; then onto the three #25 Torx screws (the longer one in the middle right in the tube, and two shorter by the corner of the filter, again keep eyes protected and mouth shut, 'cause fluid is still dripping; after that you're done removing, now it's just a matter of retracing your steps back with new O-rings, filter and gasket (in my case I used a bit of "low tack spray adhesive" to keep gasket in place, since the one I bought came in a box and twisted, so had a hard time trying to make it sit nicely in place, a little spray of adhesive helped a lot!

Unless you know the bolts or any of the retainers are damaged, you should not need to replace them; but if you damage any in the process, you would regret not having a replacement, so tread lightly. The same goes for the drain and filler plugs, they don't need to be replaced, unless you actually know they are damaged.

Once all is back in place, the trick is putting the fluid back in, a fairly easy task, if your car is on a "car-lift", enough for you to stand comfortably beneath; or resting on "car-stands", with enough clearance for you to slide beneath and horizontally work with some comfort, away from moving and hot parts; but neither was my case! ;-]#

The filling procedure is pretty straight forward, use the 8 mm Allen/HEX wrench to remove the plug and using a "suction gun" (or method of choice) fill until it starts dripping; start engine and after it warms up enough, fill again until it starts dripping again; then with all safety measures in place (emergency brake engaged and brake pedal pressed), slowly shift from P to 1, then back to P, at least a couple times, then leave it at P and go underneath to fill once more until it starts dripping once more (a drip per sec should be suffice they say); once done, tighten all plugs nicely, clean up the underbelly of the pan, and out for a quick trip around the block.

I noticed the difference right away! ...shifts smoother ...another happy Roverer!

"State of the Transmission" itself is still unknown, hopefully it will last quite some time, since I did feel it jumping a bit before doing this service, a specialist should look at it sometime soon to see where we stand.

Fluid came out pretty chocolaty, and formed a big foam heart in the middle of the plastic drain pan I used... approximately a bit over 5 quarts drained ...I saw very little shiny particles, dunno if metal or just sunlight or dust playing tricks, although I did see a couple small flakes of metal floating around; I also saw a grain of metal, much smaller than half a grain of rice in size; other than that, I didn't see anything scary -as if a half-size grain of metal shouldn't be scary enough! ;-]#

When I grabbed the magnet, it was like grabbing a sponge, that's how dirty it was; wiped it clean and back to the bottom of the pan it went. In the AB YouTube video, they mentioned the type of residue I would find would be that from the clutch, and typical wear and tear of components inside, nothing to be scared of; but they do mention that presence of metal particles might indicate other things going on, and should trigger further checks.

On the passenger side of things, water dripping from the AC drain is finding its way to the bolts and retainers, the ones nearest to it, they are very corroded, but usable, will consider a new set in a future service.

The gasket itself was cooked, almost like a hard-plastic, instead of a rubbery one, and cracked when bent.

Sometime ago the driveshaft broke off at the transmission end, fortunately it happened as soon as starting to drive after light turned green on a traffic light, so it did not make very much damage to the transmission pan or surrounding areas, but it left quite ugly "battle scars". Until now I was not able to see these "scars" up close, they are scary; but after checking the inside of the pan I saw there isn't much damage there -I'm relieved, and considering getting a new pan in the near future.

This coming work week will put the service to the test, I haven't taken the Disco out far enough since, but I'm confident I did a good job.

Again, if you haven't done this service, do it yourselves or have someone do it, it will do more better than harm, now find some pics attached of the job!

 

Good write up adolfojbonilla, this will inspire some I'm sure. The ATF you removed certainly looks gunky and well past it's 'sell by date'. If it's brown and has a 'toffee' smell it's usually toast.

Fortunately a pal who owns a garage in the UK did mine a few years ago, fitted a new filter and changed the ATF during a routine service on the truck, that was some years back but it's good for 30K miles afterwards irrespective of the years. Your write up has also reminded me to check the ATF levels in mine as the gear changes from cold are a trifle sluggish in recent months.

PS. don't concern yourself too much about the battle scars in the auto sump unless they are hitting anything rotating or have creased or penetrated the sump.

 

Great write up and contribution to the forums!

 

Great write-up. I have plans at the end of spring or so to pull my trans, and do a full flush. How does the fluid look after the change? I suspect it will have some dirtiness as the torque converter was still half full

 

Great job man and nice write up. Did this myself a few weeks ago....thanks forum m disco mike for the sticky. I burned both my forearms on the cats and now my 2 year old learned some sailor talk. I'm a husky guy too so I know your pain. The worst part for me, besides the cheap pump, was the fact that I had a set of mechanix gloves with the wrist to elbow heat sleeves. I'll remember them for sure next time!!!!

 

...that's right TWIX, still old fluid in there.

During my prep for this service, I read somewhere that you may want to do a new flush some miles later, just to try and get more of all that old stuff out, and it sounds about right.

Good thing is that I already know how much I need to put into it, not only physically, but money-wise ($38) ...base on that, I would do it, but I'll see how tranny responds this week. Will report back! ;-]#

 

...LOL ...#SailorTalk ...I didn't burn myself, but felt the heat, and nothing worst than maneuvering in such a tight space with the fear of burning yourself, fortunately weather too was nice here in MIA! ...and yup, bypass a cheap pump and always use whatever resources you already have at hand to make life easier, and safer! ;-]#

 

Yea got two nice scars out of it and some evil looks from my better half n her mom when he repeated it. Next time I'm gonna use a weed sprayer. Saw some nice write ups on em and they seem like it would last longer than the $10-$20 "universal pump" from the parts stores. Heck if you look at the motive products fluid pump, that's all it looks like.

 

The only thing I would do first is remove the fill hole plug before you remove the drain plug if changing tranny oil or filter

 

x2 on this. it always sucks to drain out all the old fluid only to realize you can't loosen the fill plug.